gender | Frances Bell

Personal is Political – a frame for thinking about Open Educational Practice

The OER17 Call for Contributions is about to be released but we already know something the theme of the 2017 conference, entitled The Politics of Open, chaired by Josie Fraser and Alek Tarkowski. OER16 was my first OER conference and I loved its friendly atmosphere, and of course I learned a lot too. The theme…

Women making social media work for good causes

On International Women’s Day I would like to highlight the work of three women doing good with the help of social media and those who participate. Kate Granger is a witty and engaging woman doctor who has used her experience of being a patient with terminal cancer to launch a campaign that has made life…

Nobody asked you, sir she said

My first ever memory of a ‘feminist’ reaction was to this nursery rhyme “WHERE are you going, my pretty maid?” “I am going a-milking, sir,” she said. “May I go with you, my pretty maid?” “You ’re kindly welcome, sir,” she said. “What is your father, my pretty maid?” 5 “My…

Between Athenians and Visigoths: what lies between polar positions in public discourse online

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (variously attributed – Google it) In his graduation speech, Neil Postman characterised two groups from history, the Athenians and the Visigoths, each of which has since disappeared but has left their mark on subsequent cultures. For…

Homophily, Intersectionality and Institutional Cultures as played out on Social Media

This has been a bad week for trust and humanity on the Interwebz. First Kathy Sierra left Twitter for reasons she gives in this article (having already been driven off social media and public engagements in 2007), then Julie Pagano who describes how she became a tech feminist killjoy from working in the tech industry….

Knowledge Transfer: old wine in new bottles or how many contentious statements can I make in one blog post?

Punning Wine By Mike Knell (includes edited content from a comment I made to Stephen Downes blog post) I have been watching a ‘debate’ unfold over the weekend with increasing mystification. I even posted a couple of comments but I didn’t really feel that there was much idea exchange taking place. If you want to…